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Thread: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

  1. #1

    Default Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    Im asking because usually there are threads about the most significant Romans historically or the Worst Emperors. But instead Im asking who are the five Romans you respect the most or felt were the most ideal, and of course the ones you had the least respect for.

    My personal list...

    Top five most ideal Romans

    1. Marcus Porcius Cato(Cato the Younger)
    2. Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
    3. Lucius Junius Brutus
    4 . Antonius Pius
    5. Publius Cornelius Scipio(Africanus)
    Honorable mention-Quintus Fabius Maximus

    Top five least admired Romans

    1. Sulla Felix
    2. Caligula
    3. Nero
    4. Commodus
    5. Julius Caesar
    Honorable Mention-Caracalla

    Feel free to debate!

  2. #2
    tungri_centurio's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    my most admired romans

    1.julius caesar
    2.trajan
    3.scipio(africanus)
    4.constantine
    5.julian

    my least admired romans
    1.nero
    2.heliogabalus
    3.commodus
    4.cicero
    5.caligula

    so my most admired romans are from the imperial era and great generals
    my least are the psyco's and the defenders of the republic
    Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. -Marcus Aurelius

  3. #3

    Default Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    Most admired romans:

    1. Augustus
    2. Marcus Junius Brutus
    3. Marcus Aurelius
    4. Trajanus
    5. Marcus Antonius

    The top 5 roman scumbags:

    1. Caligula
    2. Nero
    3. Commodus
    4. Sulla
    5. Caracalla

  4. #4
    ferike_2007's Avatar Tiro
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    Default Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    Most admired romans:

    1. Trajanus
    2. Emperor Augustus
    3. Gaius Marius
    4. Julius Caesar
    5. Scipio Africanus

    Scumbags:

    1&2. Caligula & Nero - can't decide who was worst
    3. Marcus Iunius Brutus - traitor and murderer.
    4. Publius Licinius Valerianus Augustus or Valerian the Elder - he was the only roman emperor captured as a PoW, by persians. Shame. He should killed himself.
    5. Publius Quinctilius Varus - he lost 3 legions, and 3 eagles. Shame.

  5. #5

    Icon10 Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    Quote Originally Posted by tungri_centurio View Post
    my most admired romans

    1.julius caesar
    2.trajan
    3.scipio(africanus)
    4.constantine
    5.julian

    my least admired romans
    1.nero
    2.heliogabalus
    3.commodus
    4.cicero
    5.caligula

    so my most admired romans are from the imperial era and great generals
    my least are the psyco's and the defenders of the republic
    That's awesome. You and I are polar opposites! We would butt heads as Romans for sure.

  6. #6

    Default Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    For someone like me that are still learning the basics of about Roman history, I would love to hear why these romans are the most/least admired

  7. #7
    tungri_centurio's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    Quote Originally Posted by CatoTheYounger View Post
    That's awesome. You and I are polar opposites! We would butt heads as Romans for sure.
    Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. -Marcus Aurelius

  8. #8
    Tiro
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    Default Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    Best 5:
    1. Trajan
    2. Vespasian
    3. Septimius Severus
    4. Augustus
    5. Diocletian

    Best reserves: Titus, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Decius, Aurelian, Galerius, Julian "the Apostate"

    Worst 5:
    1a. Constantine I "the Great"
    1b. Theodosius I "the Great"
    3. Honorius
    4. Nero
    5. Caligula

    Worst reserves: Commodus, Elagabalus (Heliogabalus)
    Last edited by The_Judge; January 29, 2015 at 01:49 PM.
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  9. #9

    Default Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    Quote Originally Posted by busmumrik View Post
    For someone like me that are still learning the basics of about Roman history, I would love to hear why these romans are the most/least admired
    Well everybody translate the facts different or takes different view points.

    For me, I am drawn to those who tried to save the Republic. I am at odds with those who used force to seize power the citizens otherwise might no have granted them.

    Sulla's march on Rome and his proscriptions made him a first rate villain to me. His getting rid of the Tribune office said it all. Caesar's bribing, bullying, refusing to relinquish command by returning to Rome without his army, illegal wars, crimes against the Gauls. suspicious defense of Cataline, and behavior once he seized total power by force made him the next in line.

    Those I honored...Cincinnatus was appointed temporary Dictator and stepped down to humbly return to his farm when the crisis abated.

    Brutus toppled the last king of Rome and rang in a system of citizenship. An oligarch Republic that was unique and offered more liberty in the ancient world then any other. The Younger Brutus assassinated Caesar despite being offered anything he wanted to rule along side him. The republic and it's ideals, even corrupted and dying, meant more to him the serving a Tyrant who seized power by force and would reward his loyal friends. My kinda guy.

    Cato The Younger challenged Caesar personal ambitions over the interest of the Republic his entire career. Everything he accused him of came to pass. He battled his peers in the Senate about their self serving mentality being at odds with their duties to the Republic. He wore a black toga to signify the death of the Republic. He resisted Caesar when their was little hope and when cornered and Utica, he chose a brutal suicide instead of surrendering. By his own words, Caesar was not a legitimate leader and therefore had no authority to pardon him. Taking his own life robbed Caesar the ability to deliver a ruling of his fate over him.

    The imperial system had some good Emperors. But because there were no checks and balances and the job was bordering on hereditary, the citizens were at the whim of the Emperor being benevolent or evil. It opened the door for Evil twisted leaders like Nero and Caligula to snap their fingers and destroy anybody or anything at their fancy. Elections no longer decided anything and Consuls were appointed by veiled threats or the implied will of the Emperor.

    The Gracchi brothers I could never decide. One day they look like heroes to me, the next I feel I see through their plan of manipulating popular opinion to empower their careers and enhance their positions above their peers. Can't decide. Cicero is another confusing figure. Greatest orator of all time and spoke eloquently about the republic. But unlike Cato, he always wanted to land on his feet and would check which way the wind was blowing before he made a stand. Cisero also admired Pompey like a sports star while Cato looked down on him because of his abuses of power and initial support for Sulla as one of his murderous goons.

    A lot of Drama in Roman history, and your angles depend on what you think was important. Read up!

  10. #10
    Kaiser Quanah's Avatar Libertus
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    Default Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    Hmm, I should read up on Roman Republican History, the most I know is the larger military aspects; I tend to stick with the Empire, since that lasted longer (27 B.C. - 1453 A.D.).



    I always admired Trajan Nerva-Antonine, Octavian Caesar (though he is an interesting topic), Sabbatius Justinian, Marcus Aurelius and Manuel Komnenos; and Leon Amorian-Makedon and maybe Alexios Komnenos. Outside of the Empire, both Brutus', Cornelius Scipio Africanus,Spartacus, and Gaius Marius seem noble enough.

    Least liked? Sulla Felix, Nero Claudius Caesar, and Gaius Germanicus "Caligula" Caesar for sure, Commodus Aurelius, anyone from the Angelos dynasty, Domitian, and half-way with Diocletian.



    A lot of Drama in Roman history, and your angles depend on what you think was important. Read up!
    Verily, this is probably one of the main reasons why I enjoy reading Roman history: I get a good drama, and it actually matters!
    Big Iron on his hip

  11. #11

    Icon14 Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    Most Admired

    1. Marcus Aurelius (Ruled from 161 AD - Died 180 AD)

    - Conqueror, Emperor, Philosopher. He is the last of the Five Good Emperors of Rome.
    He put Parthia to it's knees in the east. Fought (with success) against various Germanic tribes (most notably, the Marcomanni)
    This man is also the father of the #1 on the list of Hell-Spawn.

    2. Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (Born 236 BC - Died 183 BC)
    - Avenged his father, conquered Iberia (modern day Spain), decimated Elephants with his famous vertical line formations.
    Decisively wrecked the Carthaginians at Zama and basically saved Rome from Hannibal. Was given the title Africanus for that very reason.

    3. Trajan (Ruled from 98 AD - Died 117 AD)
    - Was declared Optimus Princeps by the senate (meaning best ruler)
    Under his rule, Rome reached it's largest extent ever. There is honestly not much more to say but that he was an amazing Soldier-Emperor.

    4. Hadrian (Ruled from 117 AD - Died 138 AD)
    - Known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the end of the Roman Empire in the north (and end of the civilized world at that).
    He also revived Greek Architecture and rebuilt the Pantheon as well as built the Temple of Venus in Rome. He also spent more than half of his
    rule outside of Italy, The reason for this is quite amazing as he decided it was better to strengthen the complete infrastructure within the Empire rather than
    to keep conquering the new lands of the enemies. (Click Here if you wish to see the complete purpose of his Travels)

    5. Justinian (Ruled from 527 AD - Died 525 AD)
    - Was the last man to ever unify Rome, built the Hagia Sophia and many other great buildings in Constantinople
    Created the Justinian Code (modernized, organized Roman laws etc)

    Honorable Mentions: Vespasian, Julian I, Septimus Severus, Cicero, Cato, The Gracchi brothers, Diocletian, Augustus, Titus, Antoninus Pius, Cincinnatus.
    I also really like the Komnenos Dynasty & the Palaiologos Dynasty of the Byzantines (they are technically Romans and don't you forget it )



    Hell-Spawn

    1. Commodus
    - Watch Gladiator you'll know why he makes #1 (infact his reign is marked as the official decline of the Roman Empire)

    2. Elagabalus
    - This ****** kid became Emperor at the age of 14 and immediately made Commodus look like the perfect Roman with
    his 'controversial' actions. He cross-dressed and whored himself to common men in whorehouses throughout Rome. He desperately wanted to become a women & offered to pay any physician who could do it.
    He would stand around naked in the palace and would try to 'seduce' any man walking by his bedchambers. He even replaced Jupiter as the main God of Rome and installed some Syrian God. Eventually, after 4 or 5 years of this ****he was stabbed to death,
    beheaded, thrown in the tiber and spat on. Earning him this #2 spot of Hell-Spawn

    3. Caligula
    - At first, everyone loved Caligula he paid the military handsomely, and threw lavish (but not overly excessive) parties and people overall looked forward to his reign. Then he got sick.
    Once he recovered he apparently became a demon. He made his horse a senator and he killed anyone who would look at him wrong. He loved to torture people and used the saw as his torture weapon of choice. He would also
    chew on the balls of his victims and made people address him as 'divine' or 'god' or something of that similarity. Oh and he also threw a bunch of spectators into the Coliseum when they ran out of Gladiators to fight the Lions.

    4. Nero
    - Murdered his mother, killed anybody he felt intimidated by (this goes for probably everyone on this list lol), possibly burnt down Rome so that he could build a massive palace for himself.
    He taxed the hell out of the citizens for his own personal public builds and was eventually deserted by everyone and committed suicide. Oh, he also kicked his pregnant wife to death

    5. Caracalla
    - Son of the great Septimus Severus, he ruled with jointly with his father, then jointly with his brother, until he had him assassinated so he could role solely by himself.
    Greatly devalued the currency, and was eventually assassinated while urinating on the side of a road.

    Someone here asked for reasons as to why we hate/love these guys, I think I went above and beyond but here it is
    Last edited by here4thehax; February 02, 2015 at 05:57 PM. Reason: Added Cincinattus to Honorable Mentions (can't forget him now can we?)

  12. #12
    DeathtoEgo's Avatar Civis
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    Default Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    Admired Evil/annoying
    1. Marcus Aurelius 1. Caligula other admirables - the Gracchi Brothers, Marcus Livius Drusus the younger, Fabius Maximus, Flavius Aetius, and writers Horace, Livy, Tacitus, Polybius
    2. Caesar 2. Nero
    3. Marcus Aggrippa 3. Commodus other not so admirables - Domitian, Claudius I wife Messalina, its endless
    4. Gaius Marius 4. Cicero
    5. Quintus Sertorius 5. Cato the Younger regarding my Spartacus nomination I am of the opinion that he was a Roman who fought in the Thracian(Thraex) style in the arena

  13. #13
    dvk901's Avatar Consummatum est
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    Default Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    Quote Originally Posted by here4thehax View Post
    Most Admired

    1. Marcus Aurelius (Ruled from 161 AD - Died 180 AD)

    - Conqueror, Emperor, Philosopher. He is the last of the Five Good Emperors of Rome.
    He put Parthia to it's knees in the east. Fought (with success) against various Germanic tribes (most notably, the Marcomanni)
    This man is also the father of the #1 on the list of Hell-Spawn.

    2. Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (Born 236 BC - Died 183 BC)
    - Avenged his father, conquered Iberia (modern day Spain), decimated Elephants with his famous vertical line formations.
    Decisively wrecked the Carthaginians at Zama and basically saved Rome from Hannibal. Was given the title Africanus for that very reason.

    3. Trajan (Ruled from 98 AD - Died 117 AD)
    - Was declared Optimus Princeps by the senate (meaning best ruler)
    Under his rule, Rome reached it's largest extent ever. There is honestly not much more to say but that he was an amazing Soldier-Emperor.

    4. Hadrian (Ruled from 117 AD - Died 138 AD)
    - Known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the end of the Roman Empire in the north (and end of the civilized world at that).
    He also revived Greek Architecture and rebuilt the Pantheon as well as built the Temple of Venus in Rome. He also spent more than half of his
    rule outside of Italy, The reason for this is quite amazing as he decided it was better to strengthen the complete infrastructure within the Empire rather than
    to keep conquering the new lands of the enemies. (Click Here if you wish to see the complete purpose of his Travels)

    5. Justinian (Ruled from 527 AD - Died 525 AD)
    - Was the last man to ever unify Rome, built the Hagia Sophia and many other great buildings in Constantinople
    Created the Justinian Code (modernized, organized Roman laws etc)

    Honorable Mentions: Vespasian, Julian I, Septimus Severus, Cicero, Cato, The Gracchi brothers, Diocletian, Augustus, Titus, Antoninus Pius, Cincinnatus.
    I also really like the Komnenos Dynasty & the Palaiologos Dynasty of the Byzantines (they are technically Romans and don't you forget it )



    Hell-Spawn

    1. Commodus
    - Watch Gladiator you'll know why he makes #1 (infact his reign is marked as the official decline of the Roman Empire)

    2. Elagabalus
    - This ****** kid became Emperor at the age of 14 and immediately made Commodus look like the perfect Roman with
    his 'controversial' actions. He cross-dressed and whored himself to common men in whorehouses throughout Rome. He desperately wanted to become a women & offered to pay any physician who could do it.
    He would stand around naked in the palace and would try to 'seduce' any man walking by his bedchambers. He even replaced Jupiter as the main God of Rome and installed some Syrian God. Eventually, after 4 or 5 years of this ****he was stabbed to death,
    beheaded, thrown in the tiber and spat on. Earning him this #2 spot of Hell-Spawn

    3. Caligula
    - At first, everyone loved Caligula he paid the military handsomely, and threw lavish (but not overly excessive) parties and people overall looked forward to his reign. Then he got sick.
    Once he recovered he apparently became a demon. He made his horse a senator and he killed anyone who would look at him wrong. He loved to torture people and used the saw as his torture weapon of choice. He would also
    chew on the balls of his victims and made people address him as 'divine' or 'god' or something of that similarity. Oh and he also threw a bunch of spectators into the Coliseum when they ran out of Gladiators to fight the Lions.

    4. Nero
    - Murdered his mother, killed anybody he felt intimidated by (this goes for probably everyone on this list lol), possibly burnt down Rome so that he could build a massive palace for himself.
    He taxed the hell out of the citizens for his own personal public builds and was eventually deserted by everyone and committed suicide. Oh, he also kicked his pregnant wife to death

    5. Caracalla
    - Son of the great Septimus Severus, he ruled with jointly with his father, then jointly with his brother, until he had him assassinated so he could role solely by himself.
    Greatly devalued the currency, and was eventually assassinated while urinating on the side of a road.

    Someone here asked for reasons as to why we hate/love these guys, I think I went above and beyond but here it is
    Very nicely done. I would add, however, to my own 'most liked', Julius Caesar and Constantine the Great. Both men, imho, saved the Empire from what could've been catastrophic breakdown and continuous civil wars....and also lengthened the time that the Empire survived 'whole'.

    Creator of: "Ecce, Roma Surrectum....Behold, Rome Arises!"
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  14. #14
    General Maximus's Avatar Vicarius Provinciae
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    Default Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    My most liked ones (not in order, just the ones I love):

    1. Julius Caesar - He was the military genius of Rome, and I consider him among the top 3 military world has ever seen (with Napoleon coming first). He was good at politics as well, although in his last years that eventually turned back on him. He extended the Republic to it's maximum extent.

    2. Imperator Augustus - The first emperor, he was an extremely cunning, shifty and able man. He managed to play both the senators and the people. By the time he died, he turned the Roman Republic that had become poor, degenerated and constantly facing civil wars, military coups and wars, into a grand and peaceful Roman Empire that had stable frontiers, a grand professional standing army, an extremely stable economy and an effecient government system that would prevail for centuries. Not to mention he was the first man to bring real peace to Rome after almost 250 years of nearly unending (albeit successful) warfare in the Republic. If Rome turned into a stable empire and survived in prestige for two-and-a-half centuries, it was because of this man alone. His family matters were messy in his last years, though.

    3. Marcus Aurelius - Until his death, Rome was basically the grandest civilization of the era, considering Han Dynasty had began to collapse, Parthians were starting to face internal unrest, and Kushan Empire was also beginning to show signs of weakness. His rule was among the best of any rulers in history, and the level of progress under his rule (and his four predecessors) was not matched in Europe until late 19th century. His empire was extremely wealthy and powerful, but he made the mistake of having Commodus succeed him. But still, he was a humanist and allowed free speech to everyone, something that wouldn't be seen in Europe until French Revolution.

    4. Antoninus Pius - An unusually kind and considerate emperor. He was a very popular man throughout his life, and no one ever questioned his rule. He is remembered as one of the best rulers in entire human history, even though he did not do anything much of note in particular (except building that second wall in Britain). That is mostly for the tranquility of his reign, his mercy and skillful preserving the empire in thorough manner in every respect, without anything bad happening. Or maybe he was just a good man who turned lucky, but nevertheless I like and respect him very much.

    5. Diocletian - The absolute genius man who saved Rome from disaster and anarchy, plus gave it an extended life. It was he who stabilized the Empire completely for the first time since 235 AD. He was the one who restored trade routes and the Roman economy that had nearly collapsed. He restore the Roman army that had suffered heavy losses, lack of loyalty and manpower shortages. His new Roman military system worked perfectly under his reign and there were mostly no barbarian invasions, plus his Tetrarchy worked at least until he reigned.

    Constantine would later modify the systems he set, Constantine also trashed his perfectly working military system, and this would later result in barbarian invasions and start of collapse of Roman Empire in the next 80 years. But it was solely because of efforts of Diocletian (alongside Aurelian, Probus, Carus and one more emperor) that Roman Empire managed to survive and stabilize.

    Although I'd also like to very much add Trajan (deserves 1st spot), Hadrian (best administration in the entire Roman history), Vespasian (stabilizing and repairing the empire), Claudius (unexpectedly great reign), Septimius Severus (brought empire back on track saving it from ruin), Aurelian (diligent conqueror and restorer of the empire's army, real saviour of Rome), Constantius Chlorus (ever loyal and great commander), Gordian III and Julian (whose reign was as good as Principate for the last time) too, alongside Flavius Aetius, Justinian and Belisarius. Even Emperors Basil II and Ionnes I Tzimiskes deserve the 1st spot greatly.

    Five least liked ones:

    1. Commodus - This man inherited the Empire in it's peak, a golden era, with lots of wealth, a great bureaucracy and a grand and loyal army, and then threw it completely into the dustbin like mutilated trash. He was a cruel, paranoid tyrant. His reign marked the start of the decline of Rome which would never stop (only halted temporarily a few times) until 1453 AD.

    2. Caracalla - Seriously, this guy was the worst Roman emperor ever. He was also responsible for decline of Italy and empire in general, once he gave citizenship to everyone in the empire. This was a drastic step that greatly accelerated the empire's downfall, while changing it completely. He was an extremely cruel tyrant who murdered his own brother for absolute power, was brutal to everyone imaginable, executed thousands on false grounds and the list goes on.

    3. Elgabalgus - This kid didn't deserver to be an emperor, or even living beyond his childhood. His reign was a shameful mark on the Roman history in every respect. He ruined the empire's finances and military greatly as well as shattering all the prestige Rome had previously enjoyed. And it made the army and people extremely disloyal, to the point where a good emperor like Alexander Severus was assassinated. Not to mention he turned into a homosexual prostitute.

    4. Caligula - Well, this one was really insane, and a tyrant. Until his reign, Roman army was loyal, Praetorians were loyal, finances and economy was nice, and empire was prospering. He simply trashed it all, including the prestige of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. Though thankfully Claudius managed to restore every single thing back to the original point. But his assassination set up a precedent that haunted Rome for the rest of it's history - emperors were revealed to

    5. Nero - Extremely bad emperor. He trashed a lot of what Claudius had diligently built and rebuilt, was a tyrant, killed his co-Emperor Britannicus and possibly had a big hand in poisoning of Claudius. His reign was marked by terror, plus he may have burnt 1/3 of the city of Rome if it can be believed, as he destroyed a large portion of the city already for his palace. He completely lost the favour of senate, the army and the people and crashed the remaining prestige of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty.

    Internally he ruined the finances and the economy of the empire as well. It resulted in a catastrophic civil war, devastating revolts in lots of areas, and the empire was a wreck until Vespasian managed to finally restore it back.

    Domitian might've been a paranoid tyrant, but he was a nice and able emperor overall and doesn't get to be on the list. Theodosius I gets to be on the list, because he was a Christian extremist who filled Roman army with barbarians (although was a very able administrator). Various 3rd Century Crisis emperors like Philip the Arab and more get to be on the list too.
    Last edited by General Maximus; February 15, 2015 at 05:20 AM.
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  15. #15

    Default Re: Who were your five most admired Romans and your five least?

    Most admired romans:

    1. Caesar
    2. Augustus
    3. Marcus Aurelius
    4. Pompey
    5. Trajan

    Also the commander who defeated queen boudica. I forgot his name at the moment.

    The top 5 roman scumbags:

    To many to list.
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